Feed, transport and delivery mechanism for book trimmers and the like

ABSTRACT

Apparatus for feeding objects to a transport mechanism and transport and delivery mechanisms for the objects, and, in particular, apparatus for feeding books to, transporting them through the cutting stations of and delivering them from a twostation, three-knife book trimmer. The feed mechanism includes a hopper for holding books, a prestripper for stripping a book from the hopper and moving it part way to the front knife cutting station and pushers, which continue to feed the book to the first cutting station, with means coordinating the prestrippers and pushers. The transport mechanism includes a plurality of displaceable, e.g. upper transport belts and a plurality of belts in opposition to the displaceable ones, e.g. lower transport belts, which clamp the book, respectively, from above and below. While clamping the book, the transport belts travel with it to the side knife cutting station, halt for side knife trimming, and then move the book beyond the second station to the delivery mechanism. The transport belts travel intermittently so as to be stationary when the book is delivered to the first station and to halt the object at the first and second stations. Displacement means, e.g. for the upper belts, separate the transport belts at the first station to permit a book to be fed between the upper and lower belts, and return means bring the belts together again to clamp the book. The delivery mechanism includes speeder belts for engaging the book from below and speeding it away from the transport belts.

United States Patent 91 Sarring 11] 3,722,336 Mar. 27, 1973 [54] FEED, TRANSPORT AND DELIVERY MECHANISM FOR BOOK TRIMIVlERS AND THE LIKE [75] Inventor: Ernest J. Sarring, Western Springs,

Ill.

[73] Assignee: North American Rockwell Corporation, Pittsburgh, Pa.

[22] Filed: Feb. 10, 19 71 [21] Appl. No.: 114,225

[52] US. Cl. ..83/63, 83/155, 83/255, 83/417, 83/419, 83/421, 83/422, 83/517,

[51] Int. Cl. ..B26d 7/24 [58] Field of Search....83/66, 63, 155, 255, 417, 422, 83/419, 421, 416, 517, 519, 925 A; 198/165; 22l/10,13,12;214/8.5 SS, 8.5 K, 8.5 F

Primary Examiner--F rank T. Y ost Att0rneyJohn R. Bronaugh, Floyd S. Levinson, Dennis OConnor and Richard A. Speer [57] ABSTRACT Apparatus for feeding objects to a transport mechanism and transport and delivery mechanisms for the objects, and, in particular, apparatus for feeding books to, transporting them through the cutting sta tions of and delivering them from a two-station, threeknife book trimmer. The feed mechanism includes a hopper for holding books, a prestripper for stripping a book from the hopper and moving it part way to the front knife cutting station and pushers, which continue to feed the book to the first cutting station, with means coordinating the prestrippers and pushers. The transport mechanism includes a plurality of displaceable, e.g. upper transport belts and a plurality of belts in opposition to the displaceable ones, e.g. lower transport belts, which clamp the book, respectively, from above and below. While clamping the book, the transport belts travel with it to the side knife cutting station, halt for side knife trimming, and then move the book beyond the second station to the delivery mechanism. The transport belts travel intermittently so as to be stationary when the book is delivered to the first station and to halt the object at the first and second stations. Displacement means, e.g. for the upper belts, separate the transport belts at the first station to permit a book to be fed between the upper and lower belts, and return means bring the belts together again to clamp the book. The delivery mechanism includes Speeder belts for engaging the book from below and speeding it away from the transport belts.

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1. A trimmer for trimming edges of books comprising a hopper for holding a stack of books to be trimmed, means for moving the books from beneath the stack to said trimmer, said hopper comprising a front and a rear wall facing, respectively, toward and away from the direction from which comes the means for moving the books, a table surface beneath said walls on which the stack of books is seated, said walls defining a location for the stack of books, said rear wall being at a first location, stripper gate means at said first location and having a lower edge, said gate means being adjustable in height with respect to said table surface, whereby said gate lower edge is height adjustable for different height books to be moved away from said hopper, a switch connected with said moving means for activating and deactivating it, said gage being operable upon being contacted by a book of greater height than the height of said gate lower edge, which book is being moved by said moving means, said gate being operable to operate said switch which thereby deactivates said moving means, said trimmer comprising knives for trimming the book edges and transport means for transporting the books to and past said knives, said trimmer being positioned to receive books delivered by said moving means, and said switch also being connected with said trimmer knives and said transport means such that operation of said switch deactivates these items and the entire trimmer.
 2. A trimmer for trimming edges of books comprising a first cutting station, a knife at said first cutting station movable to cut the front edge of the book, a second cutting station, knife means at said second cutting station comprising two side knives on opposite sides of the trimmer and movable to trim the head and foot of the book, each said side knife being supported by a housing therefor, means for moving said housings toward and away from each other to thereby move the side knives toward and away from each other to compensate for varying height books, means for delivering a book to said first cutting station, transport means for transporting the book from said first cutting station to said second cutting station and then beyond said second cutting station to a trimmed book delivery means, said transport means comprising three upper belts for engaging the book from above at said first station, said upper belts travelling from said first station toward and past said second station along a first predetermined pathway and remaining in engagement with the book while so travelling, drive means for driving said upper belts, three lower transport belts for engaging the book from below at said first station, said lower belts aLso travelling from said first station toward and past said second station along a second predetermined pathway and remaining in engagement with the book while so travelling, drive means for driving said lower belts, said upper belts being mounted to face toward, to align with and to be movable with the corresponding said lower belts, each of said belts passes around a front guide element which defines the upstream end of the operative run of the belt, and a rear guide element which defines the downstream end of the operative run of the belt, the respective front and rear guide elements for each outside one of said upper and lower belts being connected with the respective adjacent side knife housing so as to be moved in unison therewith as said side knife housings move with respect to each other, halting means for halting the movement of said upper and said lower belts when the book is at said first station and when the book is at said second station, and indexing means for causing said halting means to halt said upper said lower belts when the book is at said first and at said second stations.
 3. The trimmer mechanism of claim 2 further comprising, a plurality of speeder belts, with each such speeder belt being positioned near a lower transport belt; all said speeder belts being positioned and supported so as to engage the underside of the book at a location downstream of said second station; said speeder belts extending from and travelling away from said location downstream of said second station and travelling in the same direction as said lower belts; a drive means for driving said speeder belts continuously, and at a higher speed than said transport belts are driven; the outermost speeder belts being, respectively, each connected with the nearby one of said side knife housings so as to move therewith as said housings are moved toward and away from each other.
 4. The trimmer mechanism of claim 2, further comprising means for elevating said upper belts at said first station out of their normal pathways and away from said lower belts, and means for returning said upper belts to their unelevated positions; said means for delivering a book to said first cutting station comprising a pusher, including an abutment surface and means for moving said abutment surface against the book to move the book to said first cutting station; a backstop positioned to block the book being moved by said pusher abutment surface; the position of said backstop with respect to said first station being adjustable to account for variations in book dimensions; jogger means positioned to be moved into contact with edges of the book not facing said abutment surface and said backstop; a clamp means associated with said knife at said first cutting station and movable into contact with the top of the book at said first station; whereby a pocket is formed for the book at the first station, which pocket is defined by said lower belts, said abutment surface of said pusher, said backstop, said jogger means and said movable clamp.
 5. The trimmer mechanism of claim 4, wherein said jogger means comprises jogger plates arranged to contact opposite edges of the book at said first station, and operating means for operating said jogger plates simultaneously to move together to tap their respective edges of the book to properly arrange the book. 